Rollercoaster David
Mega Poster
I don't usually write trip reports, as if I'm going to do a write up, I'll usually turn it into the script for a video instead, however I think a written report works best here and I wanted to highlight their halloween event. Anyway, This Autumn I made the trip to Serengeti Park in Germany, Not far from Heide Park, which I visited the previous day. The park has a giant safari park, 2 creds (with Gozimba, a weird powered spinning coaster coming next year) and a Halloween event.
Gozimba looks larger in person than in pictures and should be an interesting ride. I'm sure I'll be back some day to check it out.
The park had long opening hours from 10-2200, but I got an afternoon ticket which elt me arrive at 1:30 to do a few things before the spooky times began.
First up, was a Jet Boat ride, Black Mamba. I'm not sure if this is the same sort of boat as you get at Movie Land Italy, but it was good fun and thankfully I didn't get too wet. It would have sucked quite badly to have to spend the rest of the day soaked. The boat didn't seem as powerful as the one in Italy, however I think they may have been piloting it a bit less aggressively to avoid soaking us.
One thing I liked was what they did with their old pirate boat ride
It became a washed up wreck on the island the boat went around. But what happened to the other part of the ride?
Well, It now has a few orangutans attached to it which makes it part of the Monster truck ride. That was of course my next ride, and was a fun little blast around the circuit going over bumps and tilted roads
I then went to ride their current largest cred - Butakai Racer
This was an interesting and a bit Janky technical Park Goldmine coaster, that has a clone in another safari park in Italy. It kind of felt like a PAX coaster, with a quite aggressive first drop in the back row, A fun little cred.
Next I took the safari Bus tour, which was an upcharge, but well worth it as it takes you on a hour long tour of the safari park, and I didn't fancy risking my rental car against the wild animals.
After the safari it was starting to get dark, so I had a quick wander around to see some of the other animals
A sleepy red panda
I'm not sure if I've ever actually seen a porcupine before, but this little guy looked so cute.
With the animals seen, it was time for Halloween, and to be honest, this is my main reson for making this post. I think the atmosphere in the park was fantastic, and way better than a lot of other parks attempts at halloween events. It goes to show how putting some effort into lighting and a few props can make a huge difference.
For my shame, I did the SBF spinner. I think when the Halloween event kicked off properly this ride went in to rotational operation with a few other kiddy rides in the area, whilst the other coaster operated all continuously all night. The whole park looked awesome at night!
no copyright issues here, keep on moving.....
2nd time around, the Trojans decided they needed a few more people, so this must have been the result
The park used to have a large Tivoli, and it looks like it's been recycled like the pirate ship!
At the center of the park was this tower, I think I've seen some similar things advertised at other parks and it mostly seems to be a kind of fun house, although some rooms had been darkened or altered to fit a halloween theme,
The view from the top was nice though, and you could see where the park had made efforts with lighting.
There was this ride at the top of the tower, which I assume dangled you over the edge, but it was shut and filled with skellies instead.
Lighting and a few props really made this area look great at night. Time for some spooks though!
The park had 6 Haunts to check out, first up was Ghost town, which had a rather spooky walk towards it
The maze itself was ok, a few jump scares accompanied by screams played on cheap speakers adn some sliding doors/windows used to an ok effect. Sets weren't that detailed but did the job
Next maze uo was Dark Town, The second of four mazes with the "town" suffix - maybe they should spend a bit more time picking names. Anyway, this maze was crap.
It's one that has you follow a rope in the dark, which can work nicely if done well, but this rope was just at the side of a corridor with no open spaces which completely defeats the purpose. Along the way there were a few light and sound jump scares which didn't work for me as I was behind quite a large german gentleman so missed them all.
The next maze was Doll Town and this was probably their strongest maze. It had decent sets and good use of actors all round with some novel jumps along the way.
The next maze was Alice in Halloween Town, completing the conurbation quadrilogy. This one was interesting because it had a few animatronic props that were speaking in english, whereas everything else at the park was in german, It was really quite short, but the costumes on the actors were good and it kind of did all it could whist being st in a small marquee tent.
The first non-town maze was The Strangers which was actually set in their dinosaur safari I posted a pic of earlier. This was well lit and had people in Ghillie suits giving the scares which worked well. I would liked to have seen someone in a dinosaur costume in their though, even if it was one of those blow up T rex ones. There were actually two other walk throughs in the park, one of ice age animals and one of extinct animals that all had derpy expressions. These were both nicely lit for night, but didnt have the same walk through.
The final maze was DREAMON, which sadly was not based on Aerosmith or Steven Tyler. This was their newest maze for this year and had a couple of nice sets and some pretty good costumes AND A BALL PIT! At one point you slide down into a ball pit and have to wade through when people jump out from under the balls! The final chase was with a fake chainsaw, but this was done with an audio effect rather than a de-chained prop which was a bit of a let down.
Overall I was satisfied with the mazes, But I think in general what stood out was the decorations in the park itself. OK, the mazes weren't top tier, but were all included in the entry price with the only upcharge I had being the safari bus tour. Happy to answer any questions about the park for anyone that's considering visiting
Gozimba looks larger in person than in pictures and should be an interesting ride. I'm sure I'll be back some day to check it out.
The park had long opening hours from 10-2200, but I got an afternoon ticket which elt me arrive at 1:30 to do a few things before the spooky times began.
First up, was a Jet Boat ride, Black Mamba. I'm not sure if this is the same sort of boat as you get at Movie Land Italy, but it was good fun and thankfully I didn't get too wet. It would have sucked quite badly to have to spend the rest of the day soaked. The boat didn't seem as powerful as the one in Italy, however I think they may have been piloting it a bit less aggressively to avoid soaking us.
One thing I liked was what they did with their old pirate boat ride
It became a washed up wreck on the island the boat went around. But what happened to the other part of the ride?
Well, It now has a few orangutans attached to it which makes it part of the Monster truck ride. That was of course my next ride, and was a fun little blast around the circuit going over bumps and tilted roads
I then went to ride their current largest cred - Butakai Racer
Next I took the safari Bus tour, which was an upcharge, but well worth it as it takes you on a hour long tour of the safari park, and I didn't fancy risking my rental car against the wild animals.
After the safari it was starting to get dark, so I had a quick wander around to see some of the other animals
A sleepy red panda
I'm not sure if I've ever actually seen a porcupine before, but this little guy looked so cute.
With the animals seen, it was time for Halloween, and to be honest, this is my main reson for making this post. I think the atmosphere in the park was fantastic, and way better than a lot of other parks attempts at halloween events. It goes to show how putting some effort into lighting and a few props can make a huge difference.
For my shame, I did the SBF spinner. I think when the Halloween event kicked off properly this ride went in to rotational operation with a few other kiddy rides in the area, whilst the other coaster operated all continuously all night. The whole park looked awesome at night!
no copyright issues here, keep on moving.....
2nd time around, the Trojans decided they needed a few more people, so this must have been the result
The park used to have a large Tivoli, and it looks like it's been recycled like the pirate ship!
At the center of the park was this tower, I think I've seen some similar things advertised at other parks and it mostly seems to be a kind of fun house, although some rooms had been darkened or altered to fit a halloween theme,
The view from the top was nice though, and you could see where the park had made efforts with lighting.
There was this ride at the top of the tower, which I assume dangled you over the edge, but it was shut and filled with skellies instead.
Lighting and a few props really made this area look great at night. Time for some spooks though!
The park had 6 Haunts to check out, first up was Ghost town, which had a rather spooky walk towards it
Next maze uo was Dark Town, The second of four mazes with the "town" suffix - maybe they should spend a bit more time picking names. Anyway, this maze was crap.
It's one that has you follow a rope in the dark, which can work nicely if done well, but this rope was just at the side of a corridor with no open spaces which completely defeats the purpose. Along the way there were a few light and sound jump scares which didn't work for me as I was behind quite a large german gentleman so missed them all.
The next maze was Doll Town and this was probably their strongest maze. It had decent sets and good use of actors all round with some novel jumps along the way.
The next maze was Alice in Halloween Town, completing the conurbation quadrilogy. This one was interesting because it had a few animatronic props that were speaking in english, whereas everything else at the park was in german, It was really quite short, but the costumes on the actors were good and it kind of did all it could whist being st in a small marquee tent.
The first non-town maze was The Strangers which was actually set in their dinosaur safari I posted a pic of earlier. This was well lit and had people in Ghillie suits giving the scares which worked well. I would liked to have seen someone in a dinosaur costume in their though, even if it was one of those blow up T rex ones. There were actually two other walk throughs in the park, one of ice age animals and one of extinct animals that all had derpy expressions. These were both nicely lit for night, but didnt have the same walk through.
The final maze was DREAMON, which sadly was not based on Aerosmith or Steven Tyler. This was their newest maze for this year and had a couple of nice sets and some pretty good costumes AND A BALL PIT! At one point you slide down into a ball pit and have to wade through when people jump out from under the balls! The final chase was with a fake chainsaw, but this was done with an audio effect rather than a de-chained prop which was a bit of a let down.
Overall I was satisfied with the mazes, But I think in general what stood out was the decorations in the park itself. OK, the mazes weren't top tier, but were all included in the entry price with the only upcharge I had being the safari bus tour. Happy to answer any questions about the park for anyone that's considering visiting
